When the jewel shines
by therranolleo
Summary: a story about Salome's and Ashley's trouble to take care of little Tiffany, but what they don't know is that a group of bandits known as "The Omega" is about to make some trouble, and a secret of Salome's past.


When the jewel shines

"and so in conclusion, the 12 bandits that is known as "the omega" have yet again escape the royal prison, the police department is still trying to find them, however up to now they have found no clue of where the 12 goes" a newsman announced the emergency news on the TV, upon hearing this a blonde haired girl said "aw man, its them again, I can't believe it that the 3rd time this month!" she looks annoyed by the news, while the blonde haired girl complain, her friend, a silver haired girl, is drinking a cup of tea, but soon after she said "chill out Ashley, it's not like that they can come here anyway!", "but Salome, I'm tired of these guys, always stealing stuff, always get caught, but just keeps on breaking out of jail!, I turned on the TV so I can watch first class entertainment, not emergency news that keeps coming out every 5 minutes!" Ashley complained.

While polishing her sword Salome said "well, I'm annoyed by them to, but shouting stuff out loud isn't going to help you know!", "yeah you're right, by the way, where is tiffany?" Ashley said after realizing her mistake, Salome answered "I just saw her a couple of minutes ago, but now, I don't really know", "oh, is it possible, the wise ms. Salome actually don't know something!" Ashley said eagerly while leaning close to Salome, "hey will you please quit it! I'm not all that wise you know, now we have to find tiffany, that brat could never stand still even just for mere second, always running of somewhere!" Salome said with a loud voice, "wow!, you could actually be annoyed, impressive!" once again Ashley said to tease Salome, "I said quit it!, we don't have time for this!, she might be off wondering somewhere on the castile, I say we ask Sybill, what do you think?" Salome asked after her anger, "wow, you could even be angry!" said Ashley impressed, then she continued "I say today is a new record "the first time Salome got mad" hihihi" Ashley giggled to herself, Salome's face is starting to turn red, she is starting to lose temper, she said "Ashley I'm not in a good mood right now, I'm warning you to stop, or else!" the Ashley got scared she said, "ok, ok I'm not gonna joke anymore!, now to find the little brat, lets..." Ashley stopped for a while, then she said in confusion "uhh, what's the plan again Salome?", "see, this is what I don't like about you, always joking around, and at last, forget the whole plan!" again Salome complained, "well I'm sorry, geez you can be so hard sometimes, but who cares about that, tell me the plan!" Ashley said, "Ok, here is the plan, we go find Sybill, ask her about the brat, find the brat, and finally, we punish her!" Salome answered, "sounds easy enough, let's go!" said Ashley full of confidence, "ok" Salome responded.

On a distant space far far away from this very planet, lies a planet similar to earth where magic and science combine, where the creature in this planet could live for hundreds, even thousands of year, lies vast ocean, giant mountains, huge building's, and beautiful scenery , but what differs this planet from our earth is that not only humans living here, but there are other race that live here too, from elves that work in different jobs, giant golems that soars the land, to dark succubus that lives in a castile along with vampires, from talking animals and beast that work as knights to scientist, dragons that rule empires and knights who fight for the sake of their nation, from small robots that work as mechanic, and giant battleroids that fights in the arena for the sake of pride and glory. And yes, all of these races are all in one planet, a planet named Cray. Starting from the start of civilization here some race gathered together to make a "clan", different clans started to emerge from different places, and up to now there are about 23 clans that live in Cray.

But as time goes on the leaders of the clan realized that they can't live on their own without help from other clans, there are clans that have advance technology, but they don't have any place to plant corps, some clans have vast lands and forest but they lack technology, and so, one day, all the leaders of every clan decided to have a giant meeting to talk about the cooperation of clans to help each other, but because of the different believe, knowledge, and power that each clans have every meeting ends up in a disappointment for some clans, so after more than 10 unsuccessful meeting a war came along between clans, and after 100 years of wars the clans that have the same believe form a "nation" in order to make their army stronger, up to now there are 6 known nations these nations are, the united sanctuary, the dragon empire, the magallanica, the zoo, the dark zone, and the star gate.

And this time our story came from a clan of knights, in the united sanctuary nation lies 3 main kingdom, and this time our story came from the royal paladin clan, in the royal paladin clan there is a special squad that is called the jewel knights, they are considered the most glamorous, and fashionable knights of the clan, because they equip their armor with magical stones, known as magic jewel, but aside from their glamorous look they are also know for their power and skill of their chosen knights, and this story tells us about a rookie jewel knight and her 2 mentors, if you want to know more, then read on!

Later that day Ashley and Salome came to the library to find Sybill, also known as the brain of jewel, "hey Sybill, we need to ask to ask you something" said Ashley while waving her hand to Sybill, "oh, it's you Ashley and Salome, what are you to doing here, I thought you didn't like reading Ashley, not you Salome, you're always welcome here to read" Sybill said with her low voice, she looks kind of annoyed with the presence of Ashley in the library, "hey come on don't be like that, we're both jewel knight's right, so let just be friend, by the way we came here to ask you something" Ashley said with a big grin on her face, "ask me something, what is it, it's not every day you come here just to ask" the surprised Sybil answered, "we came here to ask you a favor, can you find tiffany for us?" Salome asked, "find tiffany?, that's easy, I thought you guys are going to ask me a harder favor, well here we go" Sybill said with confidence, then she started to cast a map spell on her magic book, then a huge map came out of the book, on the map there is a red dot, "ok, you see the little red dot on the map, that tiffany" Sybill explained, "well we knew where she is, it seems like she is in the... forest, I knew it!, that brat is always there every day, it's so obvious, how can we not think of this Salome?" Ashley said, but Salome ignored her. "Well thanks for the information Sybill, we're going now, bye" Salome said her goodbye's to Sybill, "good luck on your search, Sybill said in return.

A few minutes later they arrived at the forest, "well we're here, let's just find that kid, punish her, then go home" Salome said to Ashley, then she replied "I couldn't agree more!", then the two go on the search, a few moments later they found her, swinging on an old log tied on a huge branch of a tree back and forth, "WAHHHHHHHH, THIS IS SO MUCH FUNNNNN!" the white haired girl shouted out loud, her shout was so loud that it scares all the crows on the forest, so scared that they flew away, seeing this only made Ashley angrier, she shouted " TIFFANY YOU LITTLE BRAT, GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!, YOU KNOW WE ARE NOT ALLOWED IN HERE!", but the little girl doesn't mind the shout of her mentor at all, instead she just stick her tongue out at both of them, while Ashley is still shouting at tiffany angrily Salome has reach her peak of patience, once she can't handle it anymore, she just drew her sword, jumped up, and cut the rope, when the rope is cut Salome just jumped off the log to the ground, letting tiffany fall down to a swamp, "AHHHHHH!" tiffany screamed as she falls down to the swamp, then *splat*, "wow, just wow, I have never seen you so serious before" Ashley said with a lot of impression written in her face, "and that's what will happen if you try my patience" Salome said in voice full of seriousness. "HEY, WHATS THE BIG IDEA!?" a voice screamed out of the swamp, "WHATS THE BIG IDEA, I'LL TELL YOU WHATS THE BIG IDEA, THE BIG IDEA IS THAT YOU HAVE BROKEN A LEAST 5 JEWEL KNIGHT'S CODE, AND IF YOU ARE NOT UNDER AGE, THATS 15 YEARS IN THE DUNGEON!" Ashley shouted in extreme anger.

"WELL, LIKE A GIVE A CARE ABOUT THOSE STUPID CODE!, THEY'RE BORING, AND SELFISH!" shout tiffany back at her mentor, then *slap* suddenly Salome slapped tiffany "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT THE CODE!?" the furious Salome shouted at the dirty brat that looked at her full of anger, "once again I said they're boring and stupid" tiffany said with lowered voice and angry eyes, "well excuse me if the code's are boring and stupid, but may I remind you that those are the code that saved you from your flaming death ON TOP OF A VOLCANO!" Salome tried to remind tiffany of the importance of the jewel knight code, "why, do you always bring that up whenever I do something wrong, anyway what do you want me to do?" tiffany said after she finally calm down, "well first we're going to clean you up, then meet king Alfred to see what punishment suits you" Ashley said in order to scare tiffany, "nice try Ashley, but grandpa Alfred would never give me punishment" said tiffany full of confidence, "we will see soon" Ashley said back to the brat that caused so much trouble for the two young knights, "uhhh, my head is spinning, come on let's just go home" Salome said, then the three went home, all of them being very tired.

Once they got home tiffany immediately took a bath, after that Salome and Ashley took her to the castile's main room, the king's throne, then they knocked at the door, "who is it?" said a heavy voice of a man, "it's us your highness" said Salome before coming in, "oh, well well, if it isn't Ashley and Salome, come in!" the king invited the two in. Then they got in, "oh it seems that you've brought tiffany along with you" king Alfred said in a little surprised traced in his voice, "yes your highness, but yet again we have found tiffany going of the limit of the castile" Salome said, "this time we found her on the forbidden forest just outside the castile, and according to the 24 codes of the jewel knight, she has broken the 7th code of area boundaries, and another 5 sub-codes of destroying natures properties, endangering local wild live, trespassing restricted area, and many more, which according to the rule book is equal to 15 years in the underground dungeon!" Ashley said to king Alfred while walking back and forth trying to look like a lawyer in the court room, "but since she is under aged, we thought you might be the one who give the punishment" Ashley continued her sentence, while still trying to act like a lawyer in front of the king, seeing this Salome could only shake her head. "well let's see..." said king Alfred while thinking, tiffany who saw this is starting to feel scared, she is also sweating, "am I going to run out of luck in front of grandpa Alfred?" she asked herself that question in her mind again and again, but out of nowhere king Alfred said "nope, I'm not going to give you any punishment, but just this once, don't repeat it again ok?".

hearing this Salome and Ashley could only open their mouth wide, while tiffany is jumping in pleasure in her heart, " yes grandpa" said tiffany, then king Alfred said "now go along tiffany, go play outside, I'm going to speak to your mentor for a while", "ok then, thanks grandpa Alfred!" said tiffany with a big cocky smile on her face, king Alfred smiled to her to and said "you're welcome sweetheart", then the little girl walked out of the room but before going out she whispered to Ashley "see I told you grandpa wont punish me" after that she stick her tongue out to her mentor. "But why your highness?, why do you let her go just like that?" Salome asked to the king, "aw come on, she is gone now, you don't have to be so formal!" said the king with a laidback attitude, "yeah, but still why?" Salome ask again, "look, Salome, Ashley, tiffany is just a little girl, I'm not giving her lots of hard punishment because I want her to have fun, the kind that she never had before in her life, if she wants to swing on a log in a forest, I say let her, if she wants to swim in a river, let her! Beside you all know what happened to her on her 60th birthday", upon hearing this both Salome and Ashley got a flashback of what happened.

"Yes sir, we know, but still, her acts are really childish even though she is growing up!" Salome complained to Alfred, "yes, that might be true, she is 110 now, but the only reason I gave her doing all that thing is because her real childhood is full of hardships, pain, and suffering" the king explained, "yeah, that is quite true, I think even if Salome is the one in her place, she would go wild too!" said Ashley trying to tease Salome again, "Ashley, I'm not going to argue about this with you again, you can say anything you want, but I tell you, I won't be provoked!" Salome declared "ok ok, geez where is your sense of humor?" Ashley asked trying to tease Salome once again, "at this rate, if you keep up with that attitude, my sense of humor is about to fly across this room along with you!" Salome tried to scare Ashley, and unfortunately it worked, "ok ok if you're going to hit me in the end then I better stop it now" Ashley said, "hahahahaha" king Alfred laughed hard, "see now your acting just like little tiffany, hahahahaha" the king laughed again, then the two realized they both feel ashamed for yelling at tiffany earlier. the king continued "see, even you two, the top knight in the legion, could still joke around from time to time, do both of you still remember the time when you're still young?, remember the time both of you almost fall of a waterfall just because of a silly bet that you made up?" the king asked trying to remind his two knight's the meaning of childhood fun. "yes sir" both of them answered at the same time, it seems that they got nostalgic about their happy childhood, playing in the mud, swinging on logs, making each other so silly bets that always ended up in disaster, these are the good memories that they share together back when they are still little girls. "these are the times that I want tiffany to have, I know the three of you have the same childhood, your parents got killed, all your other family members got lost, all alone, I know all of that feeling, and it makes you MAD!, I know because I've been there, and I also spend my childhood doing the same thing as tiffany, and I get scolded all the time!, but what I learned from that experience, is that great childhood is needed in order to create great future" the king explained.

"yes sir, now we understand, at least when we do it we still have each other, but tiffany she's all alone, no one to play with, because there's no person in this castile that her age, she is forced to play alone, all because of the knight's code" Ashley said in her regret, "I even slapped her hard just because she makes of the code, now I feel guilty" said Salome confessing her guilt, "wow, and now you can feel guilt!?" Ashley said while teasing Salome again, "quit it Ashley, I'm being serious here, or do you want to see my "humorous" side?" asked Salome while clenching her fist in front of Ashley's face, "no thanks, the more "humorous" you became the more chances that I could end up in the hospital!" Ashley joked about Salome's "humorous" side. "now what are you going to do with tiffany?, in my opinion you two have a lot of apologies to make!, especially you Salome, I never slapped you when you make a mistake right?" the king asked while leaning forward to Salome and raising one eyebrow, "no sir, you never even once slapped me if me or Ashley even if we do incredibly stupid things, and we are going to make things right!"

said Salome while taking out her wallet behind her back, her thought had already flew to the amount of cash she had to spend just for an apologize gift, "that kid would never accept 1 bar of chocolate as an apologize gift, she'll just keep on asking for more until eventually me or Ashley go bankrupt!" Salome said that in her mind, the same look is printed in Ashley's face too until, "Salome, Ashley what's wrong, aren't going to "make it right" with tiffany, so what's up with your face?" the king asked both of them, their face immediately turn from thinking to surprised, "yeah, I mean no, I mean nothing, there's nothing wrong with our face, Hahaha" laugh Ashley awkwardly after being surprised by Alfred, then she continued "uh we were just about to...um, go out!, right Salome?", "huh?, um...yeah, we were just about to go out to...um to... get a haircut, right Ashley?" asked Salome back, "yeah right... well bye for now sir!" then Ashley ran out of the throne room in a hurry followed by Salome, seeing this king Alfred could only stare at those girls in confusion.

Then they finally arrived at the nearest grocery shop, "huff huff huff" Salome and Ashley breathed heavily, "huff, I never would have thought that we would have the same idea as a apologize gift huh Ashley?" asked Salome while trying to gather her breath again, "huh, huff, what apologize gift?" asked the tired Ashley to her friend, "huh, what do you mean by "what apologize gift", didn't you follow me here to get tiffany an apologize gift?" Salome asked in confusion, "I have no idea what you are talking about Salome, I only follow you here just to get out of that stupidly awkward situation in front of king Alfred!", "and what about the whole "going to cut the hair thing" you just said to the king?" asked Salome in even more confusion, "well I don't know!, the word just splattered out of my mouth, it's just a spontaneous answer ok!?" yelled Ashley, her sound was so loud that she's starting to attract attention, "shhh!, be quite Ashley your starting to attract attention, remember now we are not in the castile, we got to keep our title as jewel knights clean!" remind Salome to her partner, "oh yeah, your right, well what's the plan then?", "well I think after what we did to tiffany this afternoon, it would be nice to give her a little apologize gift, didn't you think of the same thing in front of the king?" ask Salome, "huh, no I wasn't thinking of an apologize gift, I was just thinking of the new show that will come up on the TV this evening!, I heard that is good!" confess Ashley. "Ugh! This girl can't even think of an apologize gift after what we has done to tiffany, doesn't she has any feel of guilt?" Salome said that to her heart, "any way are you in or not?", "hmmm" Ashley mumbled for a while thinking, "ok I'm in, but you do remember right, that 1 bar of chocolate won't satisfy her?" asked Ashley to remind Salome, "yes, I know, that why I was thinking of the amount of money I gotta spend just for an apologize gift when we were in the throne room!" Salome said.

"Ok, just leave that behind us, now what are you going to buy for tiffany?" Ashley asked while counting the cash she got to spare, "buy!?, I'm not going to buy some instant food that industries make!, NO, I'm going to make her the food that likes, now let's see, beef, potatoes, carrots, and what else do we need..." Salome continued to mumble to herself the ingredients needed to make tiffany's favorite food, the beef cheese steak, seeing her friend talking to herself Ashley said, "well if you're going to just stand there and talk to yourself about some cooking stuff, that your problem, I'm going in to see what sweets I can get tiffany, that brat would love to munch on some chocolate pie's!", then Ashley went in the grocery shop, seeing this Salome realized she got left behind, "HEY, WAIT UP!, DONT LEAVE ME BEHIND!" Salome yelled to Ashley as she ran inside the grocery shop trying to catch up to her friend who's already starting to pick up sweets for tiffany.

Then the two start to shop for grocery needs, the two chat, laugh, and enjoy them self while shopping, these are the rare moments that Ashley and Salome actually looked like normal teenage girls instead of knights of the royal paladin's jewel knights. After shopping the two went back home to the castile, then just when they were about to see tiffany, "hey tiffany!, we're home and we got you a little..." Ashley stopped her words only to see that their room was a total mess, their flower vase was knocked down, their food cabinet is wrecked apart, food everywhere, even their clothes were scattered everywhere, they were shocked, so shocked that the two dropped their grocery bags, then they see tiffany on sitting on their bed with her hands behind her back, her mouth was full of something, the two stared angrily at the little brat who is still munching something in her mouth. "TIFFANY, did you did all of this?" asked Ashley angrily, the kid just shake her head, "what are you chewing on?" Ashley continue asking the kid who is now starting to sweat, but without saying a thing the girl just raised her shoulders, then Ashley is starting to feel suspicious, she looked around their room and noticed that her box of special edition chocolate candy is empty, "TIFFANY!, DID YOU WRECKED OUR ROOM JUST TO FIND, AND FINISH MY CHOCLATE CANDY!?" asked Ashley for the final time with a loud voice, feeling pushed to the brink tiffany swallowed what's in her mouth and said "oh oh, I've been caught" but as she's getting ready to run away Ashley shouted "SO YOU DID EAT ALL OF MY CHOCLATE CANDY, YOU BRAT DID YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST ME!?, MORE THAT YOU CAN GET IN A YEAR!" then Ashley ran toward the kid to attack her, but just a moment before Ashley attacked the kid Salome stopped her, "stop it Ashley, you gotta control your anger!" but Ashley just keep on struggling like a wild beast, trying to attack tiffany who is now on the corner of the room, "stop it Ashley, stop it!" said Salome as she tried to calm Ashley down, then in the struggle Ashley's elbow knocked slaloms head to the left, Salome then sees that her box of imported rose tea is empty too, Salome then lets Ashley go which make her curious "hey, why'd you let me go?" asked Ashley, "tiffany, did you drink all my imported rose tea?" Salome asked in a scary killing tone without caring her partners question, "well.., not just the rose tea, your jasmine, tulip, lily, and lotus tea too!" said tiffany in a naughty tone, "but all of that is water under the bridge, oops would you look at the time, gotta go BYE!" then the scared brat immediately ran out of the room in lightning speed, finally Ashley and Salome can't handle it anymore, their heads are boiling with anger, and their fist is just asking to throw some punches at the kid, "TIFFANY YOU BRAT, GET BACK HERE!" the two shouted at tiffany at the same time, then both of them chase after the kid around the castile and the countryside.

they go through the lobby, dining room, swimming pool, art room, even through the giant forest, waterfall, farms, and finally the garden, after 4 hours of chasing her Salome and Ashley got tired and decided to stop, "huff huff huff, I can't believe it we've been chasing her for 4 straight hours, and she hasn't even got tired one bit!" complained Ashley while lying down on the grass, "huff huff I know, the kid might not be good at sword fighting, but when it comes to running I'm sure not even a horse could keep up with her!" the tired Salome responded in amazement of tiffany's running skill, "huff, so what now, its 8pm and we still haven't taken a bath nor eaten!" said Ashley while rubbing her stomach that starting to complain, "well, let's just go home for now, with the ingredients I bought at the grocery shop, we should be able to make dinner for the two of us" said Salome, "but, what about tiffany?" asked Ashley, "well, she will probably get hungry and went back home" Salome said to calm Ashley who is still trying to look for the kid, "but what if she doesn't come back?" asked Ashley, she's beginning to worry about the little brat, "don't worry, tiffany is a strong kid, beside when she got lost she always find a way back home right?" asked Salome to stop making her partner worry, but deep within her heart she was actually worried too, but her stomach is starting to hurt because of hunger, "yeah, your right, she can go home by any means necessary, even if it means having to ride a grocery cart to the castile, hahaha" Ashley laughed remembering some weird ways tiffany uses to get back home when she's lost, there are time when she use the grocery cart to get back to the royal city, or riding a wild bull back to the castile, even there are times when she decided to take a flight from a giant bird from the suburbs to downtown only to collapse and faint in front of their house, "well shall we go home now, I'm getting a hungry now, and *sniff* wow I need a bath!" said Salome, "yeah, me too, let's go home" then the two walked home with an extreme hunger written around their face and a not so good body odor.

Meanwhile Salome and Ashley went back home, tiffany, who has gotten lost in the forest yet again is trying to get back home, "huff, huff, huff I think I finally lost the at the garden, but I guess I've run too far from the castile, I didn't even know where I'm now, maybe between the kamorebi forest and the desert, well maybe the only thing to do now is to keep walking until I found a building or two" the kid said to herself while walking down the forest, but after more than 30 minutes of walking nonstop she is starting to feel tired and hungry, then she staring to look around the forest for light because its getting very dark and some night hunter like tigers and panthers is starting to come out, after a few turns she finally found a little hut inside the forest, it was only lighted by some torches.

She decided to take a look, she tip toed to the hut silently trying to not make a noise, then as she arrived at the hut she looked through the window, turns out there is no one there she immediately opened the door there she saw a table full of food, roasted chicken, a corn soup, some rice, a vegetable salad, and a big glass of lemon tea, "wow, look at all this food!, I'm gonna eat till I drop!" shouted tiffany getting ready to eat, "let's eat!" she shouted again with a spoon on her right hand and a fork on her left hand, but before she could even taste the food a voice of an old lady said, "are you enjoying my cooking young lady!?", upon hearing this tiffany got shocked and turned around," wha!, I'm sorry, so sorry, please forgive me for trespassing in your hut!" said tiffany while bowing down in front of the old lady, the old lady giggled looking at tiffany bowing down, "hihihi, it's ok young lady, don't worry, I'm not mad!" said the old lady, tiffany the looked up then she saw a green haired smiling old lady about 850 to 900 years old holding a wooden staff with a green magic stone on top of it, on her right shoulder stands a white pigeon with red eyes staring at her, "how long are you going to bow down and stare at me? Get up already!"the old women said again, "ahh, yes mam!" tiffany said with respect, as if she was her own mother, then the old woman asked tiffany to sit down and asked "now first of all what is your name?, and why are you out this late?", "my name is tiffany mam, a rookie of the royal paladin's special squad the jewel knights" said tiffany, "and why are you out this late?" the old lady asked again, "uh, actually I was chased down here by my mentor, Ashley and Salome." Tiffany explained, "and why are you chased down here, did you make them angry or something?, and please tell me more about yourself!" said the old lady, the old lady seems to have an intrest on tiffany.

"well..." tiffany stopped for a while, "whats wrong? Is it that you dont want to tell me?, its ok if you dont want to!" said the old woman afterward, "ohh no mam its not like that! Well... to tell you the truth...i dont realy like reminding my past..." tiffany convinced, "but because its you i'll tell!". "so first, i'll tell you about my past, i am an orphan you see, mr family got killed in avolcano erruption 90 years ago, back then i was only a child who didnt know a thing, and back then i almost got swallowed up by the lava, until salome and ashley saved me, but the bad news is that from my village i'm the only survivor, all the others were dead, so the king agreed to take care of me under the wing's of the jewel knights, salome and ashley are assigned to be my mentor, and since that day i became a jewel knight, at first glance i loved it, getting cool armor, gigantic weapon and gigantic fame!, but turns out being a knight isnt so easy, everytime i want to have fun i always get called for practice, even in my free time!, and all the rules that i have to follow, I JUST CANT TAKE IT!" shouted tiffany, "ok thats your background story, its ok, i understand" said the old woman, "now can you please tell me why were you chased down by your mentors here?" the old woman asked, and slowly tiffany told her all her story.

as soon as tiffany finished her story the old woman said "well from the look of you story it's your fault", hearing this tiffany got annoyed her face turned into a frown, then she said, "sure take their side!, no one understands me!, everyone always scolds me for having fun, and I always have to follow the code of jewel knights, I can't have any fun!" tiffany complained to the old lady, a drop of tears flows down her cheek, the she started crying, "hey, don't cry, it's not entirely your fault, all you want to do is have fun right?, there is nothing wrong about having fun, and I know how boring it is to keep following codes and rules all the time!" the old woman said with a smile on her face, seeing this tiffany's heart got all warm and her tears stopped coming down, "do you really understand me?" tiffany asked, "yes I do, I knew how it felt, because I've met a lot of people like you and do you know what they all have in common?" the old woman asked tiffany, "huh, what?" tiffany asked in curiosity while rubbing off the remaining of her tears on her cheek, "they all have the potential of becoming a great person!" said the old lady while trying to cheer tiffany with a big smile, tiffany smiled back at her as she heard the old woman's word, "oh yeah, I forgot to ask, what is your name mam?" tiffany asked trying to be polite, "hmmm" the old woman mumbled to herself, then she continued, "I guess I have no name, some people just call me lady of kamorebi, and some people just think that I'm a mythical creature from this forest, just because I always bring a staff everywhere and I dress in a big robe!" said the old woman awkwardly, "what, how come you have no name?" tiffany asked the old lady, "well I don't know that too!, I was once belong to the clan neo nectar, but even there I was only called lady of kamorebi, because I was born here. there became a mage there, and my young live was filled with work, work, and work, but now in my old times, I just stayed here in my homeland, living in this little hut taking care of this forest with the knowledge I have" lady of kamorebi explained, "well then, if that the case I'll just call you ms. Kamorebi then!" tiffany said as she smiled at the old lady, "kamorebi huh?, ms. kamorebi, not a bad name, thank you tiffany" ms. kamorebi smiled back at the kid, "well now I want to get back home, but frankly I didn't even know where I'm now!" said tiffany soon after, "well if you want I can teleport you back home" ms. kamorebi offered tiffany a "ride" back home but tiffany politely refuse her offer, "ms. kamorebi, thank you for the offer but I can't possibly take the teleportation spell, it takes to much magic force, but if you could just give me a map of the forest, that will be enough" said tiffany, "hmmm, I see, you're a good kid tiffany. Ok I'll give you a map, but please promise me, when you get back home apologize to you mentor ok?" ms kamorebi said to tiffany as she's getting ready to leave the forest, "I will ms. kamorebi, and thank you for the talk ms!" said tiffany back, "you're welcome honey" ms. Kamorebi responded to tiffany's thank. Then after 1 hour of walking through the forest, the tired tiffany finally arrived at the royal city, there she walked to her mentor's house.

As tiffany went back home, Salome and Ashley who has arrived at their house immediately fixed the whole room, putting food back to the cabinet, mopping water off the floor, and packing their clothes back into the drawer, after all of that they toke a nice relaxing bath, after bathing they checked if the ingredients is still good for cooking, "oh thank god the beef is still good for cooking" said Salome in relief, "the cheese and other ingredients are still good too!" Ashley said while looking the rest of their grocery. Finding that every ingredients are still good enough to eat they prepare the food, after its ready to be roasted they put it in the oven to be cooked for 35 minutes, in the mean time to satisfy their hunger the two just munch on some chocolate pie that Ashley bought, while watching their favorite TV drama. Soon after their dinner is ready, they started to prepare their steak, by this point they are so hungry that their mouth water just by looking and smelling the steak.

but just when they're about to eat the door bell ring , Salome opened the door, there she find the dirty clothed tiffany who almost fainted, then she immediately bring her in, Salome asked in sarcasm "how do you get back this time, grocery cart, bull, while riding a bird, or do you just got magically teleported here?", but instead of using her high toned, full of ego voice she uses a softer voice this time, "none of the above, I walked home from the forest" tiffany answered, then she continued "hey, Salome", "yeah? What?" Salome responded, "I just want to say sorry for my doing's, I know I've been causing you and Ashley a lot of trouble recently, especially on the forest this afternoon and once again I just want to say I'm sorry" said tiffany in voice of guilt, while Ashley is surprised with what she had heard, Salome said "ok, who are you and what have you done with the real tiffany?", "no no, I'm tiffany, I just realized my mistake when I got lost in the woods, then I met this old lady who lives in the wood, and she asked why I look very sad, then I explained everything to her and she give me a lecture, but then I realized my mistake and I came by to say sorry, thats all" answered tiffany still using her low toned voice, Salome still doesn't believe what she has heard, but Ashley instead said "apology accepted, if you came all the way here from the forest, walking from a place 10 miles away just to apologize, I accept it", "thanks, a lot Ashley" the kid said while having her usual kooky smile in her face, "well, I don't really know if this whole apologize thing is real, but if Ashley believe in you, me too" said Salome, "thanks to you too Salome" said tiffany while still smiling.

but soon the sound of tiffany's hungry stomach growls through entire room, "oops, I forgot, I haven't eaten since morning, so..." tiffany stopped for a while, the she starting to smell around the room *sniff* *sniff*, "wait a minute, I know this smell, its, its, it's MY FAVORITE FOOD!" tiffany immediately run toward the dining room, but there she saw her mentor blocking her way, "oh no, you're not going to eat it all by yourself, your gonna have to share, but before eating you're gonna have to get a shower first, ok" said Ashley while blocking tiffany's way to the dining room, "aw, come on I'm so hungry right now, cant I take my shower after I eat?" ask tiffany with her glassy puppy dog eyes, "nope, and not even your puppy glass eyes can change my mind!" said Ashley while turning her head acting like she doesn't care , "PLEASE!" said tiffany again with even bigger and cuter eyes, "nope, still nope, you have to take a shower first then you can eat, and don't even think of making a bigger eyes, or I'll drag you to the shower!" said Ashley seriously to threat tiffany, the, finally the kid stopped her eyes and said, "ok ok, geez your being so hard Ashley, fine I'll take the stupid bath, but promise me that I'll get the most part!" said the kid as she walked to the bathroom, Ashley didn't respond to her words. After the kid took her bath, she realized she didn't have any clothes to wear, she shouted out of the bathroom "Ashley, Salome, I forgot I don't have any clothes to wear!", "what?, how could you forget to bring your own clothes if you are going to stay here!?, ugh, I don't know what to do anymore, Salome please take care of the kid, I'm too tired to do it!" complained Ashley, then she just lay down on the bed, "ugh fine, but I'm gonna eat your share of the steak if you don't help me out ok?" said Salome, "what if you're going to eat my share, then I'll starve all night!" shout Ashley to stop Salome from eating her steak, "well if you're just going to sleep there and do nothing, while I take care of the brat then I think it's fair if I eat your steak" said Salome while leaving the house to get tiffany's clothes, "ugh, fine I'll help" Ashley responded while getting out of her bed. finally they manage to get tiffany's clothes, "well, finally we were able to get tiffany's clothes, now let's eat, our food must almost be cold by now!" said Ashley while running to the dining room, then Salome and tiffany follow, after saying their prayers they started eating, tiffany seemed to enjoy Salome and Ashley's cooking, especially because it's her favorite food, then she remembered something and she said "oh yeah, why do you cook this food in the first place anyway, I thought you two want to go on a diet, and this is not a meal for diet!", "well...uhhh...how to put it..." Ashley said while thinking how she could explain the situation, "Ashley, just tell her the truth, no need to hide it!" said Salome while chewing her steak, "ok, ok...so the truth is we actually made this for you" Ashley started to explain, "huh, for me but why?" ask tiffany, "well we were planning to make this for you as an apologize gift", Salome said trying to explain, "why on Cray would you make me an apologize gift!?" ask tiffany curiously, "well we make one for you to say sorry for our action at the swamp in the forest, especially me, sorry I slapped you, I didn't mean to do it I just got angry, ok?, and I'm also sorry for cutting the rope while you're riding" apologize Salome, "no, Salome it's ok, it's my fault anyway, I was trespassing on the forest, and I got you into trouble, and I drink all of your expensive imported flower flavored tea, and I also eat all of Ashley's chocolate candy, so basically its all my fault" said tiffany in guilt yet again, "well I'm sorry to for yelling at you so loud at the swamp too" Ashley also apologize to tiffany, "no, no, once again I say there is no need for you guys to apologize to me it's my fault anyway" said tiffany again showing her sign of guilt.

"oh and from tomorrow I will start paying you guys the money I owed you from the tea and the chocolate candy, and in my calculation if I work just hard enough I could pay you all full in about... 6,5 months" said tiffany with an awkward smile plastered on her face, Salome and Ashley were shocked upon hearing this, thinking that tiffany would actually pay them the money that she owe them, but Salome said, "huff, there's no need for you to pay us, we only want you to understand your mistake, and your apologize is all we need" explained Salome, "but if you're still going to pay me, I'm ok with it" said Ashley joking about the money that tiffany owe her, but then Salome kicked her in the leg, "aw!, what did you do that for?" complained Ashley, Salome hear this but again she ignored Ashley, and instead she said "so tiffany, you don't have to pay us ok?" Salome said with a smile on her face, "really, do you really mean that?" shouted tiffany in disbelieve, "yes tiffany, you don't have to pay for it" Salome said to the excited kid, "wow thank you Salome, thank you very much!" the kid shouted again. Then they continued their meal, as tiffany enjoyed every bite she took on that steak, Salome and Ashley is still thinking of the new tiffany they just met, after the meal they watched late night horror movie, after the movie its already 12.00 pm so there is no way that tiffany could go back to her house, so she decided to have a sleepover at Salome and Ashley's house, and fortunately they let her, so for that one night tiffany had the first, and best sleepover of her live, and since that day tiffany have been coming to ms. Kamorebi almost everyday when not on work, she share stories with her, she also practiced a lot of stuff from ms. Kamorebi too, like magic, cooking, and useful handcraft, tiffany was so close to her that she could even call ms. Kamorebi her mother, until one day she made a promise to ms. Kamorebi not to say anything back to her mentor, she promised to ms. Kamorebi to respect her mentor from now on.

A few days later after tiffany's sleepover, its morning, and the sun is shining brightly, after tiffany got out of her bed she immediately take a shower, get dressed, and went outside, there Salome and Ashley are already waiting for her, without any hesitation tiffany draws her great sword, run toward Salome and attack's her, but Salome doesn't stand still she repel the attack with her spear and she start attacking tiffany back, tiffany also repel the attack back, then the two started fighting each other, after about 1 hour of fighting, tiffany got cornered, seeing this Salome immediately runs toward the kid and struck the finishing blow with her sword, knocking the kid down, then Salome walked in front of her and point her sword toward the kids nose, then she said "looks like I win again!", suddenly the bell in ash leys watch rang meaning that practice time is over, Ashley said, "ok that should be enough for today's morning practice we will continue on at the evening after lunch, well Salome how was tiffany doing?", "well for starters she is ok, but you need to increase your endurance, and the power of you attack is still too low, but however your defense skill has slightly increase after our last fight, and your speed is also good enough to evade my attacks, and overall you did good today, keep it up!" said Salome while encouraging tiffany, the kid just smile upon hearing this, "heehaw thanks for the comment Salome!" the kid said, "you're welcome!" Salome replied, then all of the jewel knight got a telepathy from olwen, the only man in the jewel knight, he works as "the man behind the screen", meaning that he controls the movement and strategy on the battlefield when the jewel knights operates, he said "good morning to all jewel knight's, the morning mission briefing will start within 15 minutes, please go to the meeting room as soon as possible", hearing this all the jewel knight immediately ran toward the meeting room, while getting ready for their next mission.

Soon after all the jewel knight's are in the meeting room the king gave them 15 minutes of brake before the briefing begins, "huf,huf,huf" Salome breathed heavily, "what's wrong Salome?, are you sick" a soft voice asked Salome, Salome turned her head and saw a green haired girl looking at her, "oh, it's you Polly, no don't worry, I'm fine I'm just tired because of the fight" Salome answered, "huh, what?, you went in a fight, what happened?" the worried Polly asked her, "oh no it's not what you think, I didn't get in ay fights, I just practice a little sword fighting with tiffany this morning, that all" Salome explained to Polly, "oh thank god, I thought you were caught in a fight, well anyway I've been making a new type of restoration tea want to try it?" Polly offered Salome a cup of tea, "well sure, I'd be glad to!" then she take a sip of the tea, immediately after taking the tea, she felt her stamina going back up, "wow!, this is one great cup of tea, how did you make it?" ask Salome, Polly is well known in the jewel knight circle because of her skill of making great potion and delicious candy that have healing effect, plus with her cute face everyone on the royal paladin admires her, hearing Salome's question she said, "sorry Salome if I could I would tell you the secret, but a magician never reviles her secret" Polly said while blinking her right eye, "well it's ok if you don't want to tell me the secret of that tea, but could you please give me a bag of it, I'll pay you!" said Salome asking for the tea, "hey, hey you don't have to pay me for it!, we are friend's not business partners right?, I'll give it to you for free!" said Polly with her cute smile, "Hahaha, yeah your right, thanks for the reminder Polly, and thanks for the tea too!" Salome said replying Polly's smile, "you're welcome!" respond Polly. Not soon after the meeting begins.

"good morning everyone!" king Alfred said, "good morning to you too sir!" all the jewel knight said in respect, "ok this morning we will be discussing about the appearance of the bandit group known as the omega", "what?, I cant believe it its them again, and this time, they're the main subject!" Ashley companied interrupting the kings word's, "shhhhhhh Ashley, the king is giving us the briefing!, cant you zip your big mouth for just a second!" said glitme, one of the two jewel knight who are high beast's, "now now glitme, don't you realize that your shouting too!" said back prizme, glitme's older sister, "uhh, sorry elder sister, I didn't realize my mistake, please punish me!" said glitme again while bowing his head down on the meeting table, seeing all of these commotions king Alfred said "hey hey, come on everyone we are at a meeting right now!, now glitme don't bow you head down like that, have some respect to yourself, and Ashley I know that your also very annoyed by this, trust me also annoyed by this bandit group, but just because they are a small group doesn't mean they're not a threat to the royal paladin. Now, what i want you to do is operate together and capture this bandit, and make sure that they never run from prison again!, I know you all can do this, now for positioning, Salome you will be the leader of this mission, and olwen has prepared the information needed for this mission, including the identity of each person, their history of robbery, and the prediction of their next move." The king said, seeing the last page of the identity paper, she was shocked to see "that" guy is one of them, but then the king said again, interrupting Salome's mind " please look through it carefully and the 14 of you can plan your move for this mission, once you're ready repot to me, king Alfred out" the king said then he leave the meeting room, "ok let's start the planning" Salome said afterword, after that they started to make plans for the mission, it took them about 1 hour to make the plan flawless, finally they report back to king Alfred in the throne room, "I see that is the plan then, the old fishing tactic, pretty nice I say, carry on then I approve this!" the king said with a loud voice after seeing the plan, "very well sir we will be leaving the royal paladin territory within 2 days" responded Salome, the rest of the day just went on calmly, as everyone is preparing their equipment, food supply, clothes, and other things that they need to go on this mission, after lunch time as Salome and Ashley said they are having another practice with tiffany, "not much has changed during this fight, your speed remains the same, the attack is still too low to be considered a big threat, and your defense is just the same as this morning, but I guess that's because of the lunch that you just had, right?" Salome said in respond to the training she had with tiffany, "yeah probably right!, but I'll try harder next time!" said tiffany, "ok then that should be enough for today, let's all take a shower, watch some TV, eat dinner, and end the day" Ashley suggested, "ok" Salome and tiffany said at the same time. The rest of the evening go on normally, everyone is at their house, some are practicing battle simulation, some prefer lighter activity such as checkers, card games, and board games, and some just prefer to sleep early, all up to the night.

The next day a simulation of the mission is made, the jewel knight's are also known for their almost-perfect mission simulation, and this mission is no exception, even though this is considered an easy mission, the jewel knight takes no risk, they must do the simulation. "well, before we start the simulation, let me explain about the battle strategy" Salome said as everyone getters around, then she continued "ok, we will be using an old tactic that have been used for a long time ago during the war of clans, it's called the "fishing bait" Salome began to explain about the plan, "ok so the basic of the plan is an ambush, but not just a normal ambush, in order to make it easier we are going to make a "bait" to trap them, Tabitha, this is where you come in, you will act of being a school girl who just went home from your friend's house...", "wait, pardon me mam, but why does it have to be me?, why can't it be Polly?" Tabitha asked, beside Polly, Tabitha is also one of the most famous jewel knight in the circle, it's because of her pretty face, and polite attitude that she became so famous, but sometimes she can be very selective on the positioning of herself on a mission, like this one, "well, first of all Polly is in charge of medicine, food supply, and potions, and second of all, although I don't like saying this in front of everyone, beside Polly you are one of the cutest knight in the circle, so you might want to use that face of yours for this mission, and beside I also heard that the member of the omega are only interested in pretty girls anyway" Salome said to Tabitha, "well, since you put it that way, fine I'll do it!" respond Tabitha, then Salome smiled at Tabitha while saying thank you, "ok moving on to the next one, Tabitha will start to move once the omega members got out of the bakery shop" Salome continued to explain the strategy, "wait, bakery shop?" ulien asked, "yeah bakery shop, and you will disguise as the bakery girl, you see, an informant of mine said that the omega goes to a bakery shop every twice a month, and tomorrow is the day they go there again, so that will be the time we capture them, once all the bandits are out we ambush them on sight, and Sherrie will provide support for us with her bow from afar" then Salome stopped explaining, and then she started giving encouragement after that the mission simulation began.

On the first try the mission went good, "well so far this has been a good, but we need to keep improving our skill, ok first, ulien as the bakery girl you should be able to reach the bell on the right side of the bakery, next time when 1 of the bandits came out of there, ring the bell once, if two came out together ring it twice, don't be afraid to get caught, because your gonna be in a disguise, and by this way, prizme and glitme could count the number of bandits that have came out, once all 14 came out then we start the ambush" Salome explained the mission training result, then she continued "ok next stuff, glitme, try to use the stealth mode on your jewel, because your hiding position is near the moonlight the bandits might see the light of the jewel, and Tabitha your acting has been very good, but keep this in mind your the bait for this mission, so act a little bit more naturally, and most of all don't show your weapon in front of the enemy, you should be able to hide your weapon magic force with the spell that Sybill gave to you." Salome stopped for a while trying to catch her breath, "well I think that all for now, let's take a 30 minutes break and continue on the training simulation!, for now party disband!" Salome declared so the group took a little break before they start again.

on the second run the previous problems that they encounter on the first run is already gone, but new problems emerges, "hmmm, it seems that new problems has emerges, the bell ringing is perfect, and the stealth is also good, but the ambush keep's failing" complained Salome, "thats true the only reason that we manage to do the mission is because the arrow that Sherrie keeps shooting to make the enemy panic, and even if she keeps shooting there's no guarantee that the enemy will stand still" Polly said, "well, Polly has a good point, the only reason that the ambush fails, is because that the enemy could detect the magic force of "the first ambusher" the yellow haired Sherrie said, although the girl was quite proud of her archery skill, "what we need is someone who have low magic force, and is able to hide her magic force too" Tabitha said, "hmmmm" everyone mumbled a while, then a voice shout "I CAN DO THE JOB!" then everyone turned their head to little tiffany, "what are you talking about?" Rachelle asked the little girl, "what I'm talking about is that I can do this job, you know the "first ambusher" thingy" responded tiffany, "well I don't know about you guys, but is this true Salome?" ulien asked the thinking Salome, "well this might sounds crazy but yes, tiffany indeed can hide her magic force, that the only reason she has been able to sneak to the forest undetected" Salome explained about tiffany's unique ability, "so can I do it, pleasssseeeee!?" tiffany begged Salome with her big puppy dog eyes, "I'm not sure about this Salome, she might mess the whole mission up!" Ashley whispered to Salome's ear warning her of making tiffany as the first ambusher, after thinking for quite some time Salome finally made a decision, "OK, tiffany you get the job, but remember, NO GOOFING AROUND!", "WOW, SO I GET THE JOB?, you won't be disappointed mam!" said tiffany with her kooky smile while giving a salute to Salome, "oh god, please tell me I just make the right choice!" Salome said doubtfully to herself.

but soon after the third simulation began, "ok tiffany as the first ambusher you should surprise the enemy , so that the others time to make a move, and remember most of all don't goof around!" Salome warned tiffany, but she only nod to Salome's warning without saying a word, Salome is still worried about making this decision, but she believe in her apprentice's ability, so she doesn't complain, then the simulation began, everything went well until the moment tiffany is about to ambush, everyone is getting nervous, even the usually confidence tiffany herself is sweating, then the time to strike comes, "AHHHHHH, I'LL GET YOU!" the kid shouts as she ran toward one of the bandit, the bandit quickly took out his knife and easily repel tiffany's attack, then on Salome's command the simulator machine stopped, "ugh... I know this is going to happen, tiffany your just too loud!" said Salome while face-palming herself, "the idea of making an ambush is not letting the enemy know your gonna attack, if you're just going shout things out loud then what's the point of making an ambush!" Salome continued on, "well, I'm sorry geez, this is my first time, so give me a little break would you!" tiffany complained to her mentor, "hey, don't complain, this is your choice, but if you can't handle it, I'm gonna give it to someone else!" Salome yelled at tiffany, "wah!, no don't give it to someone else, trust me I can do this, I will do better, I promise!" tiffany said trying to convince Salome, Salome had had her doubt, but she still believe in her apprentice's skill, "ok I will give you 1 more chance, but if you screw this one, you're out!" Salome warned tiffany for the second time, "yes mam, this time I'll do it good!" tiffany shouted, "good, now get to your position!" Salome told the whole group, and then the simulation started again for the fourth time.

Soon the forth simulation began, as usual everything went well until the time tiffany was about to strike, tiffany hold a deep breath while trying to control her magic force, but her mouth just couldn't stand shut, it felt like she has to shout, she also felt that her weapon is also begging to slash something apart, but when she lost control of her magic force the will to shout is gone, and the power surge in her blade is gone too, but her magic force is starting to go out again, then finally she realized what had happen, but when realized this the bandit had already got away, it's too late to catch them now, suddenly the simulation stopped again and a loud voice shouted "what the hack was that tiffany!?", "no, Salome I can explain what happen!" tiffany tried to stop Salome's anger but Salome just won't listen. "Nope, not another word, I don't wanna hear any of your excuses, your role of becoming the first ambusher is done!" Salome said to tiffany, "what? Please Salome you can't count me out just yet, you've got to listen to me, I can explain everything!, please Salome you have to listen to me!" tiffany begged Salome not to take her job away but, "nope, you've had your chance, but you blow it!, what are you thinking, letting the enemy get away like that?, we are all waiting for you to strike, but nooo you just stood there like a statue letting the enemy got away!" Salome scolded tiffany. hearing this tiffany could only cry, her mentor just won't listen to her, then Salome continued, "it's good enough that your still in this mission, if you make 1 more mistake like that, YOUR OUT!, do you understand?". "yes mam" said tiffany while sulking her tears, but inside she is very angry at her mentor, it felt like she just want to strangle Salome

but she just couldn't, "I made a promise to ms. Kamorebi that I wont said anything back to my mentor, and I won't break it now!" said tiffany to herself, "I know if I were the same girl I was before, I would shout at Salome right away, but I'm not that same tiffany anymore, I have changed now" tiffany continued saying this in her mind. Salome is surprised by tiffany's reaction but before she could even say a word, tiffany said, "mam, I'm asking permission to be excused from all of today's activities!", Salome's eyes got big just by hearing the word coming from tiffany's mouth, she couldn't say a word, "well, mam am I, or am I not excused from today's activities?" tiffany asked her mentor once again with tears still coming down her cheeks, although Salome is still shocked by the new tiffany, she manage to pull some word out of her mouth to say yes to tiffany, then tiffany got out of the simulation room, "hey, don't you think that your just being too hard on the kid?" Ashley's voice asked the shocked Salome, "hey, Salome!" Ashley said again, "yeah, what?", "what happened?, why are you so shocked like that, "don't mind me!, what the heck happened to tiffany?, why is she all formal like that?" Salome replied, suddenly a voice is heard from the the back "maybe she just need a little time for herself", "hmmm, maybe your right Sybill, perhaps leaving her this time is a good idea" Salome agreed to Sybill's idea.

Not long after the incident night fall came, everyone is busy at their own houses preparing dinner, and so does Ashley, but not Salome she continued to search for tiffany, "TIFFANY, TIFFANY, WHERE ARE YOU!?" Salome shouted in the forest, "where the heck did that kid go to?, I followed her all the way here, but I just lost her!" she complained to herself, then she continued to walked through the forest for a few minutes until she found a small hut lighted with only a couple of torches. Salome then got curious and walked near it there she saw tiffany talking to an old lady, they seemed to be enjoying them self, although Salome was curious she doesn't want to bother the two of them, she just trusted the women inside, after that she went back home. "HEY, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Ashley shouted to Salome as soon as Salome walked in front of the door, the tired Salome just said, "the forest" then she goes to the bathroom, took a shower, and goes to sleep without eating dinner, Ashley know that Salome is not in the mood to talk, so she just continued eating.

Meanwhile Salome is sleeping, tiffany, who is with Ms. Kamorebi is trying to explain the situation that she just faced to the one that she trust. "so that what happened, you wanted to be useful for your team, but when you realized your mistake, you are already kicked out of the job!" said ms. Kamorebi, "yeah, the story is kindda like that, so can you give me some advice?" asked tiffany, ms. Kamorebi stopped her words for a while thinking for an advice for little tiffany, soon after she said "well, first of all, as I always said, during the fight don't

argue with your mentor, just listen to her, then when the heat comes down, try to approach her in a good way, and talk thing out with her", "ok then what?" asked tiffany again, "after that, if she still can't understand you, try speaking to king Alfred about your problem, maybe he will understand" ms. Kamorebi gave her advice to little tiffany. "no mam, I'm tired of all of this!, just because I'm still young doesn't mean I can't do anything!, I'll prove to the whole world I'm not useless!" shouted tiffany, ms. kamorebi is surprised by tiffany's word, "wow, slow down there kiddo, calm down, you're not useless, no one ever said that!" said ms. Kamorebi to calm the angry kid, but tiffany said "yeah, no one said it in front of my face, but inside, they must think I'm useless!", ms. kamorebi just got silenced hearing the girls word, she realized that kids like her needed to show their anger in form of shouts, she has encounter some kids like her back when she was in neo nectar. Then suddenly tiffany got a crazy idea coming out of nowhere, but she doesn't want to tell this idea to Ms. Kamorebi, because she will say no to her. Aftermath tiffany finally went home after shouting like crazy in the forest, but before she went home ms. kamorebi gave her a last advice, "just please don't do something stupid" she said. Tiffany remembered this advice, but while her heart say not to do the idea, her guts is shouting to do it, she is confused of what to do. Finally she got back home and goes to sleep after her 7th bar of chocolate ice cream, but she couldn't sleep tight, her head is spinning with thoughts about tomorrow's mission, but since tiffany is such a heavy sleeper she manage to sleep anyway.

The next day, after the morning briefing the jewel knight's left the royal paladin territory and goes to the targeted town. The town that they are heading to is well known for its cake and bread, especially the bloodstone bakery located in the centre of the town. After scouting the town for a whole day the team finally began the mission. That night, exactly at 9.00 pm the team gathers around the targeted bakery at the corner of the town. But when they got there they only saw an old shack with a sign written "the old bakery" hanging on the front door, the door is crumpled, the window glass is broken, and the place is full of spider web, they just couldn't believe their eyes when they saw what the informant called the bakery. But just when the team was about to left the place Salome said, "wait!, don't go!" then everyone turned around, Salome continued "ok I know this lace looks creepy, and I also know that this place doesn't look like a bakery at all, but believe me, my informant is not wrong, this is the place is the bakery!", no one said anything, even tough Salome tried to convince them they just walked away. But soon after, from the horizon they saw a light, probably the light of motorcycle, then they hide to their position, "I cant believe that this is happening, this place is the bakery!?" Ashley shouted in disbelieve, "shhhhhh, don't shout they might hear us!" warned Salome, "well, how come they could hear us?, their motor sound is even louder than a 20 man choir!" Ashley said, "hey, everyone their coming nearer!" Iseult said to warn the knights, "ok their coming ulien and Tabitha, get in to your costumes! And everyone to position, oh and one more thing, tiffany don't screw this up!" Salome warned tiffany seriously, "yeah, ok mam" responded tiffany. Then the mission began.

"hey boss what's the plan now?" asked one of the bandits, "well, we do the usual, get ourselves some free food, then leave!, what else did you expect?, some pretty school girl walking around here at this time of the day?" scolded the boss of the group, "well you don't have to be so sarcastic boss?" the fat bandit said, "whatever, just take the food and leave!" the boss said again, "YES BOSS!" the other bandits shouted. While the bandits are entered the bakery, the knight's patiently wait to ambush, everyone is calm, except for tiffany, who is still mumbling to herself about her plan, Salome who saw this is worried that the plan will fail because of the kid, so she tried to stop tiffany, she tried to shut her mouth with whispers, throw a small rock to catch tiffany's attention, even she tried to call her by telepathy, but tiffany completely ignored all of slaloms effort to silent her. Then the bandits entered the bakery, Salome's attention once again headed toward the bandits, while her head is thinking about the bandits, her heart just can't stop beating hard thinking about tiffany, after the bandits entered the shop Ulien greeted them, "welcome to the old bakery, how can I help you gentleman?" Ulien said with a fake smile plastered in her face, although she wanted to draw out her sword and just attack them she has to wait for the signal. "ahhh, a new employee!" the bandit boss said loudly, "you see here we are to get ourselves some food, but we are a bit short on cash right now, so we will just be getting some bread and leave, if you don't mind!?" the bandit boss said again while looking toward ulien with an extremely annoying face. At this point ulien fist is just asking for her to punch the man right in front of her, but she manage to control her anger and she just said, "sure no problem!", "good!" the boss responded, then he continued while shouting "boys!, get all the bread you want!" hearing their boss command the bandits started to get all the food they need, they totally trashed the whole place, ulien thought to herself "if this is the way that they get their food, no wonder the shop is wracked, not even a 5 star bakery could hold these guys rage!". After they took all the food they need they walked out, then ulien started to ring the bell, after about 8 of them came out the bandit boss shouted "HEY, STOP IT!, ITS ANNOYING!" then ulien stopped for a while, she was quite shocked by his shouting, she thought her cover was broken but thank god that didn't happen, then she continued until all the members are at outside of the bakery. As soon as Salome heard the last bell she then gave Tabitha the signal to act, Tabitha manage to caught the bandits attention for a while, "hello miss, why are you still here in this time of the day?" the bandit boss said to her, "well I just got home from my friend's house" Tabitha said softly, "really now?, well why don't you make new friends, with us?" the bandit boss said again to catch Tabitha's attention.

Seeing that the bait has been taken, Salome quickly draws out her sword and rushes toward the group of bandits, she first stalked near them to get a good angle to strike, after waiting patiently until all the bandits turned to the same direction, she ran to attack, but then as she ran she heard footsteps at her back, she turned her head and she was surprised to see tiffany following her from behind to attack the bandits, "TIFFANY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Salome shouted to tiffany, then she realized that her shouting has blown their whole cover, the bandits turned around and saw Salome behind them, "what the heck?, it's the jewel knights!" shouted one of the bandits, "RUNNNN!" the bandit boss told the whole gang to get on their motorcycle and ran away. Then Salome know that their ambush had failed she quickly gave everyone the signal to attack. Everyone draws out their weapon and began attacking the bandits then a big battle began, between the knights and the bandits, clashes of swords and daggers can be clearly heard from hundreds of meters away, each knights took on one or two of the bandits at once. As the other members started fighting Salome faces the bandit boss, "hello there, ms. Salome, nice to meet you!" the bandit boss said with a gentleman's voice, "well it's not nice to see you!, Richard you are a wanted man, and I'm here to arrest you!, so do you want the easy way, or the hard way?" responded Salome, "ohhh, your quite a rude one are you ms. Salome, but I like girls who are that way, I choose the hard way" the boss said again, "very well than, it's your choice".

then Salome slashed her sword to the man called Richard, but he quickly repels the attack with his dagger and began a counter attack, the battle went fierce, but it didn't last very long, as soon as sherry releases her arrow and began to shoot the bandits, the battle is almost settled, red lines flew across the sky as they hit the ground to make the enemy's panic, as each arrow that hits the ground made the bandits became cornered and cornered, they were forced to go back to their motorcycle, but they didn't know how. Because Richard wisent concentrating, he lost his focus. Seeing this opportunity Salome slashed a strong blow toward him, knocking him down. Then Salome put her feet untop of Richard chest and pointed her sword toward his face, "so this is it huh Richard?" Salome said, "any last word?" she continued, "yeah I do, watch out your back!" said Richard while looking at Salomes back, Salome got confused, then she heard fast footsteps charging from her back, second by second the footsteps got louder and louder, them she turned to look, and she saw the kid carrying her great sword charging toward them, "AHHHH, DIE YOU BASTARD!" shouted tiffany, but when she was about to slash her sword, she got off balance and fell down hitting Salome down.

Seeing an opportunity Richard quickly ran out of the confusion, and quickly sprinted toward his bike, "hahahahaha, thanks for the escape little brat!" he said while riding his bike away from the crowd. After getting up Salome saw that Richard has left, she was shocked to see him manage to get out of her grip. but tiffany doesn't give up she quickly got up and ran after the bike, but Salome stopped her in her tracks, tiffany stopped for a while and looked up, she saw her mentors face bright red filled with anger, "YOU DAMN BRAT!, LOOK WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" shouted Salome, her voice was so loud that the whole group stooped fighting, they were paralyzed by the booming sound of slaloms voice, "I was only trying to help!" said the kid back, "WELL YOU DIDNT HELP ANYTHING!, IN FACT, YOU LET RICHARD GOT AWAY!, YOU DAMN KID!, I WISH I NEVER HAD SAVED YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Salome shouted again, then a drop of tear came down from her eye, flowing to her red cheek, while crying Salome yelled at the kid with harsh words, word that even police wouldn't say when a criminal kills a person, over and over again, tiffany saw this right in front of her own face, she could not believe what she had saw and heard, she had realized that her action had brought so much sorrow to her mentor. tiffany didn't say anything, she was paralyzed by slaloms word, "I wish I had never saved you in the first place!" these are the word that just keeps on popping on her head, while Salome is still yelling at tiffany, the other member of the jewel knights approach them trying to calm Salome down, they totally forget their mission, what is in their head now is only to get Salome away from tiffany, because their afraid Salome would get so consumed in her anger, that she will so something unnecessary, considering Salome's short temper. Seeing the knights left the rest of the bandits left too in their bikes. "Let's get out of here, bring all the food!" shouted one of the bandits, and all the bandits left.

"SALOME, STOP IT!, DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING TO THE KID!" shouted Ashley to Salome in order to calm her down, but she wouldn't listen, although all of the knights shouted at her, until *slap* a loud sound is heard, "STOP IT SALOME!, DONT LET YOU ANGER GET THE BETTER OF YOURSELF!, AS THE GRANDMASTER OF THE JEWEL KNIGHTS, I ORDER YOU TO STOP!" Ashley shouted once again to Salome after slapping her, thanks to this, Salome stopped her yelling, then she turned her head at the paralyzed tiffany, there she saw it, an empty eye she has never seen before, as if that there was no spirit inside her body, her eyes just stared at her in nothingness. But Salome didn't say anything, she is still very angry at the kid, then, with tears still sticking on her red cheek she left. The only thing she said is "mission failed everyone, imp sorry, ill report back to king Alfred". Then everyone knew that it's all over, they left the bakery with sadness all over them, "come on tiffany, it's all over now, let's go home" said Tracie to calm tiffany down, "thanks Tracy I needed that" said tiffany back with a fake smile on her face, trying to look happy, although inside her heart is very broken.

The next day, after the bandit incident, the king Alfred and Salome held private a briefing. "So you have failed the mission yes Salome?" the king asked to Salome, "with all my regrets, yes sir, we have failed the mission" said Salome. Then the king stopped for a while soaking in the situation while shaking his head, Salome got scared that she would get scolded, but she has to face it, then Salome asked, "uhhh sir, are you mad?, because if you are you are, you can just blame me, as team leader it's my responsibility", the king giggled "now who ever said I was mad, huh Salome?, imp not mad, just a little disappointed, now I want the report on this mission ASAP, ok?" said the king with a little smile, but Salome isn't surprised, because the king kind, then Salome smiled too. But soon after, fast footsteps came down the hall, a panic man opened the room's door, "huff, huff, huff" the man panted, "your highness, ms. Salome, sorry for the interruption, but I have an urgent letter, I found it in lady tiffany's room, it seems she is gone!" the messenger said, "what, how come?" the king asked in shock, "let me read it!" said Salome after, she opened the letter and read it, "dear Salome, Ashley and everybody else, by the time you read this letter I will be gone, probably miles away from the castile. I decided to quit from the jewel knight, because I know I can only cause trouble on this place, the jewel knights will be better without me, I'm sure of it, and Salome I just want to apologize one more time for all my mistake in the past, I pray for all your success in the future. And don't try to find me, I'll be gone somewhere far. My regrets, tiffany, ps. The money I owe you and Ashley for the tea and chocolate is in my drawer at my house, Im still short on cash, but I hope you accept it, thanks for everything Ashley, Salome, and goodbye", behind the letter is photo of Salome, Ashley, and tiffany at the garden, it was taken not so long ago, probably 2 weeks ago.

"what have I done?, what have I done!?" said Salome while holding Tiffany's letter tightly, a drop of tier fell down and wet the letter, "Salome, what happened?, explain now!" the king said in a loud voice, then Salome explained everything, from the training to the mission failure, the king listened carefully for each word that Salome said, "HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH THINGS SALOME!" king Alfred shouted to her, "you know she is only a kid, Salome how could you do this to her!?" the king said again, Salome just stand quite regretting her mistake, "I'm so sorry sir, please punish me, take away my title, JUST PUNISH ME!", "SILANCE, SALOME!, BE QUITE!" king Alfred shouted one more time, Salome got shocked, "look, Salome I'm not mad at the failure of this mission, but I am mad about tiffany, although I want to have a talk to you about this, there's no time, now here is what we will do, first gather the whole jewel knights, we'll have a meeting about the search on tiffany. Second, do everything in your power to get tiffany back. And third after all of this is over I want you to talk things out with tiffany, and Ashley too. Now go!" ordered King Alfred, "YES SIR" shouted Salome. later that evening Salome told everything to Ashley and the team held a meeting about tiffany's search, "ok here is the plan, find tiffany, and bring her back!" Salome said, "Sounds easy enough!" replied Ashley, "let's go!" sherry shouted to get everyone's spirit up.

but just when everyone is about to left, a voice is heard "wait!" the king said in a loud voice stopping everyone, "Salome, before you all go I want you to explain the relationship you have with Richard, the bandit boss!," the king continued, at first Salome didn't want to tell everyone about her relationship she had with Richard, "what?, no sir I don't have any relationship with Richard!" she said, "don't lie to me, I saw it, the anger you had when you fight him, the face you make when you first see him in the identity paper, it's not an attitude toward a normal criminal, you must have a relationship with him!" the king shouted to make Salome speak because of the king's shout, she eventually speak, "ok, I'll tell" said Salome, "well, Richard is actually..." Salome stopped for a while, gathering her courage, everyone waited for her to speak, then she continued, "Richard is actually... my older brother!" Salome finally confessed, everyone is shocked and opened their mouth, "but how come you never told us about him Salome, even I don't know you had a brother!" said Ashley, "I'm sorry everyone, I never told you because I don't want you guys to know my past" confessed Salome again, "but why?" asked king Alfred, "well it's because, my family's past" Salome tried to explain, "tell us everything you know about him Salome!" the king asked Salome to speak, "ok, here goes..., well first he is my older brother, but for some reason, my parent likes me more than him, I get more attention than him, but when I tried to communicate with him, he would listen, he said he doesn't hate me, because of the mistreatment he got" Salome explained,

"but why would your parents like you more than him, is he adopted or something?" asked Tracie, "no it's not like that, you see, from the start my parents always wanted to have a girl as a child, but they got a boy as their first one, then 110 years after, I was born, so that's why my parents give me more attention, I always get better treatment, better food, better toys, better education, better at everything!, but I don't like all the attention they give me, I just wanted to share my joy with him, but it seems that he is already traumatized by everything, so 1 night 160 years ago, before I joined the jewel knight, he killed my parents!, maybe because of his anger" Salome explained again, after Salome said that everyone's eyes got big they were surprised by what they have heard, "what!?, your brother killed your parents!?" shouted Ashley, "yes he killed him, and the worst part is that I saw it with my own two eyes!" Salome explained again, "that's why I wanted to capture him" Salome continued. "I see now" king Alfred said while rubbing his chin, "well that's all I need to know, thanks for sharing with us Salome" the king said, "you're welcome" replied Salome with a low voice.

Meanwhile the jewel knight prepare the search for tiffany, tiffany herself is in the woods of kamorebi, she is on her way to ms. Kamorebi's hut, after leaving the jewel knight, she decided that she would live there, if ms. Kamorebi let her. "huff!, I can't believe I actually left the jewel knight, well it's for their, and my own good anyways, I'm sure that without me the jewel knight will be a better place!" she said to herself with a smile on her face, then she kept on walking to ms. Kamorebi's place, until about 30 munities later, she was walking right to the omega's territory without realizing, "oh oh, looks like I'm lost" tiffany said to herself after a few minutes of walking inside the omega's territory, but just as she about to left, a deep voice behind her said, "hello there young lady, where do you think you're going!?" tiffany turned around and a huge smoke immediately covers her face, after a few second, she fainted, and the man kidnaps her. "hey boss, I got a big catch here!" said the man who kidnaps tiffany, "wow, where did you get her?" Richard asked in surprise, "well, I found her walking around in our territory not far from here!" the man said, then Richard stopped for a while, the man got confused and said, "hey boss, where do you want me to put her?", Richard got surprised and said, "oh oh yeah..., just put her in the underground cage" Richard replied awkwardly, "hmm ok boss, but why do you look so weird?" one of the bandit asked, "don't say anything back!, just take her to the cage!" Richard shouted, then the rest of the bandits got scared and just said "yes sir!", then they moved, "what the heck am I going to do with her?" said Richard to himself with a low voice, "why don't we just sell her to the black market?" suggest the fat bandit who overheard his boss words, "what!" Richard got surprised again, "what are you still doing here, didn't I tell you to get her to the cage!?", then without saying a thing the scared group run to the underground cage, and Richard kept thinking, "maybe it's not such a bad idea".

Back at the castile, everyone is ready to search for tiffany, "well if everyone is ready, let's go!" said Salome, "wait!" shouted Ashley, "uh, what now?" asked the annoyed Salome, "why don't we just track her with Sybill's ability?" suggest Ashley, "uhhh, Ashley I can't, because tiffany is not wearing her armor, I can only track someone if they wear the jewel knight armor and her armor is left at her house!" Sybill explained, "oh, sorry, well I guess we have to search her manually then!" said Ashley, "yes!, now let's go!" replied Salome, then everyone left to search for tiffany, the team is scattered into 3 group, the first group, Salome, Ashley, Tracie and Sherrie is going to search on the woods, the second group, ulien, isult, prizme and glitme is going to search on the countryside, the third group, Tabitha, Polly, Rachelle, and Sybill will search around the royal city. "If anyone finds clues of tiffany, contact the others immediately, we will go as fast as possible to the location, and Olwen, please guide us through the search" said Salome in her telepathy while running to the forest, "no problem Salome!" replied olwen. Then everyone scatters around the kingdom, to find the missing kid.

Not long after the search goes, Salome got an unknown telepathy from a man it says "if you want the brat, you have to go to the southeast direction of the forest, bring all your friend you're going to need it!, I give you 1 hour to go here, if you don't come, I'll sell the brat to the black market, I'm sure a young girl like her could make a fortune!", "WHAT!?, IS THIS YOU RICHARD?, GIVE TIFFANY BACK!" Salome shouted in her telepathy, the man giggled and said "hey chill out, baby sister, if you want the girl come here and lets settle this thing once and for all!", Salome got very angry, but when she was about to shout again, Richard disconnected the telepathy. "Who is it Salome?" asked Ashley, with a serious voice Salome said, "Its Richard! Tracie, call everyone to meet here immediately, I know where tiffany is!", "got it Salome, I'm connecting now!" replied Tracie, "good, now follow me!" commanded Salome, then everyone immediately run as fast as they can to the omega's HQ.

After about 30 munities of running to the designated place, they finally reached it, the place is bigger than they thought, although its only made of rock's, it's still massive, then Salome gathers her will and courage to fight her older brother 1 last time. "Well here goes nothing!" she said to herself. Then she shouted "HEY RICHARD!, IM HERE, NOW REALISE THE KID!" she demanded, then from the top window Richard's face is seen, he jumped down from the window and said to Salome, "hello there baby sister!, I missed you!", but Salome replied in anger, "shut the hell up you good for nothing bastard!, don't you ever call me your baby sister!", then Salome stared at Richard with angry eyes, Richard replied it with his cold stare like he doesn't care, "now that I'm here give me the kid!" Salome demanded once more, "well if you wanted the kid, then fight me" said Richard, "well if that's what you want than I'll give it to you!" respond Salome while drawing out her sword, "wait!, I know how to make it more interesting" said Richard stopping Salome from attacking him, "what are you suggesting?" asked Salome, "hmm, I say me make it the old fashioned way, a one-on-one duel to the death!" Richard suggest, "hmph very well then, just like the old days!" Salome agreed, then the whole group went to the forest battleground, in there lies an old tree known to be the tree of heroes, it's the landmark of the kamorebi forest, because of the great battle that was held there many years ago, and it's also the perfect place to solve this brother sister conflict that has been going for more than 50 years. "now the rules are simple, no help from others, just the two of us, just 1 weapon, no changing, a fight to the end!" Richard explained the simple rules, "sound's easy enough, lets settle this once and for all!" said Salome back. Then the two goes to the center of the battlefield.

Without doubt's Salome draws out her sword and attack's Richard, but he dodged her attack, and quickly does a counter attack toward Salome, Salome blocked it with her blade, and she placed the palm of her hand in front of Richard's face, she immediately cast a fireball spell and it shot right in front of Richard's face, but he got down and avoided the attack, Richard counter attacked with the "roaring sky" spell that created a vortex of tornado from his hand and blew Salome away, but Salome didn't just stand still, she got back at her feet, jumped up on a tree, and dashed forward to Richard, slashing her sword, Richard held the attack with his dagger, but because of losing his focus, he doesn't see Salome's kick from the left, the kick hit him right in his face, sending him flying away, "had enough brother!, or is it over!?" said Salome, "huff, you call that a kick baby sister!?, even a monkey could do better, what happened to all the training that father and mother gave to you, or is it all gone!?, gone along with them!?" provoked Richard, "don't you dare say things about our parents!" Salome said in a loud voice, "our parents?, hahaha, don't make me laugh baby sister, maybe you mean YOUR parents!" laugh Richard.

Salome had had enough of her parents being insulted, she is starting to lose her cool, she attacked Richard again, but this time Richard repelled the attack easily, then she slashed again, but he repelled it again, but she slashed again, and again he repelled the attack with ease, the more she slashed the easier for Richard to repel her attack, then when he saw an opening he slashed his dagger toward Salome strongly, knocking her down, Richard then puts his feet on top of Salome, "so this is it huh, Salome, any last word?" he said copying Salome's word at the bakery when he is down. Salome didn't say anything, "so, no last word huh Salome?" everyone is surprised by Salome's reaction, as if she has already accepted defeat, then Richard held his dagger up high getting ready to finish the fight, but just as he was about to slash, a shout is heard from tiffany, "DONT GIVE UP SALOME!, YOU CAN STILL FIGHT!", tiffany's word wakes Salome up from her desperation, "you always told me, never give up no matter what, you told me, that as long as there is someone you love, someone you care about, someone who is worth fighting for, I should never give up!, and now what happened to all of those words of yours, or are we, me and the rest of the jewel knight, are not worth fighting for!?, don't give up Salome, you can still do this!, BEAT RICHARD SALOME!" shouted tiffany to support Salome. upon hearing tiffany's word Salome immediately got up and repelled Richard's attack, "so you still do have some fight left in you huh?" said Richard, than Salome stood up and said to tiffany, "hey tiffany, thanks for the reminder, and sorry I got desperate there, your right, as long as their someone I love, someone I care about, and someone worth fighting for I WILL NOT GIVE UP!".

"well how are you going to beat me?, your almost out of stamina because of all of those pointless attack you throw at me, and your magic force is starting to fade away!" warn Richard to Salome, but Salome shook her head to Richard, "your wrong Richard, I might lost all MY power, but my friend's power will continue to support me!, now Richard, witness the power of my bond's with my comrades!" after saying this Salome closes her eyes and concentrate her power, the wind began to blew stronger flying the leaf all around, a small vortex of wind began to wrap around Salome, then when she is ready, she shouted "RICHARD, WATCH CAREFULLY, THIS IS THE POWER OF BOND'S, LIMIT BREAK!, PRAYING FLASH!" shouted Salome, unlashing her true power!, after the limit break, Salome's eyes began to glow, her power multiplies, and her magic force is building up. She then dashed forward to Richard and slashed a very strong blow to Richard, he tried to repel but the attack is too fast, the attack hit him in his chest, he got pushed back, then he said, "WHAT!?, HOW CAN YOU BECAME SO POWERFULL IN SUCH A SHORT TIME?, ITS IMPOSSIBLE!", Salome shook her head again and said "no its not Richard, it is possible, if you just believe in yourself!" said Salome, "BULLSHIT!, ITS IMPOSSIBLE!" shouted Richard to Salome, "well suit yourself then!" Salome said one more time, after that she puts all her power into one last attack, "I will end this Richard!" Salome said trying to end the battle. She quickly dashed toward Richard than *stab*, Salome stabbed Richard right in his stomach, red blood came out of his stomach, and he collapse, with cold eyes.

"it's all over brother!" Salome said one last time, she knew it's all over, black cloud suddenly surround's the forest and heavy rain came down, but no one cares. Salome walked to tiffany's cage, the bandit who is guarding tiffany's cage ran away in fear, she cut down the cage, and she looked at tiffany with watery eyes, then she kneel down and hugged the kid tightly, "I'm...I'm so sorry tiffany!, I...I didn't mean to kick you out, I just..Just got mad! " she said while crying, tiffany than began to cry too "its... it's all o...over now right Salome? Its... ok I for...forgive you Salome" tiffany said to Salome, then the two cried in the rain with tears of joy, Ashley also cried, and the others also drop a tear or two.

"hey this is our chance to escape, let's go now!" one of the bandits whispers to the other, "what about the boss!?" the other asked back, "I don't care!, let's just escape!" then they tried to tip toed out of the scene, but much to their dismay, tiffany saw them, "hey Salome, the rest of the bandits is trying to escape!" warn tiffany, "what!?, oh no they aren't!, jewel knights, get them!" then everyone ran after them, the bandits tried their best to escape, but thanks to lower's information, all of them got caught eventually. "yeah we got them all!" said Sherrie full of happiness, "well mission clear, right Salome?" said Tracie, "yes, it's a mission clear this time!" replied Salome, but it's not over yet for me, I still need to do a little thing" after that she walked to Richard, she asked him, "hey Richard, before you go I want to ask you something!", "ask me what?" said the dying Richard, "why did you kill our parents!?" Salome finally asked the question that have been hunting her all her live, "well since I'm already like this, you should probably know", than Richard began his explanation.

"well first as you know, we came from a royal elf family, and our father is also a knight, but what you don't know is that our parents is also a double agent for the mafia group of the megacolony clan!" explained Richard, "what!, impossible!, how could you say such lie!?" Salome said not believing her brothers word's, but her brother shook his head and said "I'm not lying, Salome, they really are!, and if you don't believe me, you can go to my room in the hq and under my bed is the research I've made, and there are photo of our parents making a deal with one of the mafia!" said Richard to convince Salome, "it's true Salome!" Ashley's voice said from the front of the omega's HQ, "it's true Salome, here is the file, the photos, and the contract, it's all here!", she continued, then Salome took the file from Ashley and she read it, turns out its true, all the evidence needed to prove that her parents is a mafia is there, she couldn't believe what she had saw, but it's true, her parents are mafia. "see, I told you so!" said Richard with a playful tone, then he continued "well back to the story, so you see, one night I overheard our parents making a deal with the mafia, to sell you to the megacolony clan!" Richard explains again, hearing this Salome couldn't believe his brother even more, but the more her head says no, the more her heart says yes, but before Salome could say anything, her brother continues the explanation, " the only reason that they spoiled you, so you wouldn't get suspicious, so when I heard that they are going to sell you to the mafia, I tried to stop them, but word's just wouldn't stop them, so in the end I have to take rough measures, and I fight with them, and at the end, well that's what happened" Richard explained again, hearing this Salome cried, she couldn't believe what she had heard.

"so you killed our parents to save me?" Salome asked to Richard, and he nodded, seeing Richard nod she cried harder and hugged her brother, she cried for about 5 minutes and asked him again, "but why did you joined the bandit?" she asked Richard, he explains "well after the incident I knew I couldn't possibly get back to become a knight, so I ran away from the castile, and decided to forget my past live and moved forward, at first it was hard for me to do, but as time goes on I learned how to forget my past, but as much as I want to forget my past, I just couldn't forget 1 thing", "what is it?" asked Salome while still crying, Richard smile and said, "hihihi, you still don't know who?, it's you!?", "what... me!" Salome said, "Yes, it's you, no matter how I tried to forget everything, I couldn't forget you, my little sister!" hearing this Salome cried even harder, when she had actually found a member of her family, he had to go. Than Richard continued "so, after a few months of traveling outside the town I got the invitation to become the member of the omega back then there is another leader, but he died several years ago, and I was elected to become the new leader" Richard continued his explanation, "so that's what happened, brother if you had explain thing's to me clearly, things would have been different, we don't have to fight like this!" Salome exclaimed, "I know Salome, but I couldn't make myself to say such thing to you back then, seeing that pretty smile on your face when you play, I don't want to brake it!, by reveling the truth, you see I just want you to be happy with your live!" Richard confessed his feelings to his sister, "oh brother..." Salome cried again, "you see Salome, although I'm a bandit, I still pray for you every night, and I don't hate you for the mistreatment I get after you are born, it's not your fault, after the day I killed our parents, after I left, I just wanted you to grow into a great women like you are now, you have many friend, and a little sister of your own!" the he looked at tiffany, "see, your life is much better than mine!, also please forgive me for all the trouble I have caused you and your comrade, it's all over now! and please remember, even after I'm gone, continue on your life, I will always be watching you from above, and I will always love you my dear little sister..." after his last word's Richard died his hand's were cold, his eyes are empty, Salome got shocked, "brother, brother, no... noo!, don't die on me brother!" she shouted, "Richard, don't die please!, I forgive you!, brother, just come back to me!" Salome shouted even louder while crying, then Salome felt a hand gripping her shoulder, it was Ashley, "it's over now Salome" she said.

Salome still couldn't believe what had happened, she still cried and hugging her brothers body, but her tear stopped when she saw her brother's smile before he left the world, as if the smile is saying "don't cry, go on with your life!" then Salome stopped crying and stood up, "jewel knights, go home before me, I need to make Richard's grave, but no one follows the order, that's when Salome knew that they want to help her making Richards grave, and everyone worked hard to make Richard's grave, even the rest of the bandits, when asked why, they only said "it's our final sign of respect toward our beloved boss, you can do anything you want to do with us, but please let us help making boss Richard's grave" that is what they say, and after 1 hour the grave is done, in the tombstone is written "here lies Richard, a former knight of the royal paladin, a great leader of the omega, and a caring and great brother to a certain sister that he loved very dearly, may god forgive all his sins, and may his soul reach the heaven." On top of the grave Salome scatters a bucket of while lily, Richard's favorite flower. After the grave is done, a ray of sunlight shine upon his grave, meaning the rain and the fight is over.

Then everyone left Richard's grave and went to the royal castile for the rest of the bandits trial, turns out that the bandits got an enlightment on their punishment and only got 100 years of punishment in the dungeon and an extra 200 years doing public work instead of the original 300 years in the dungeon and 500 years of doing public work. They were delighted and they also promise that they would quit their old ways and move to become a better person.

A few weeks later, Salome, Ashley and tiffany visited Richard's grave, it's been a while since Salome visited him, and so after their mission tiffany and Ashley agreed to accompany her to visit Richard. At first Salome said "hello brother, how are you doing? I hope you are doing great up there, because we are, we just finished a mission and it was a great success! The client was very happy too! There is no need to worry about me, I'm doing fine here, oh and here is a new batch of white lily I bought for you, I know how much you loved it!, so I bought a fresh new batch just for you!, thank you for everything brother!, and I love you!", then Salome left the grave along with Ashley and tiffany after kissing Richard's tombstone, "hey are you done Salome!?, cause I'm starving!" complained Ashley, "yeah me too!" tiffany complained too, "ok, ok, I'm coming!" said Salome while leaving her brothers grave.

The end


End file.
